BBC defends coverage

The BBC’s Head of Television News has defended its recent coverage of the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, saying there is “unprecedented audience interest” in the story.

Peter Horrocks responded to claims that the BBC had been “biased in favour of the McCanns”.

“I don’t think we have been biased in favour of them,” he wrote in his blog at the BBC website. “There are large parts of the audience who are massively sympathetic to them.

“It’s a highly charged story, but we have to be as even-handed as we can and stick to the facts.”

He said the number of people reading the McCann story on the BBC News website had been four or five times greater than any other story.